Australia will go into the series deciding fourth and final Test on a huge high after Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh had played the innings of their lives yesterday at Ranchi.
Skipper Steve Smith and a determined Matt Renshaw opened proceedings on the final day with a minimum 90 overs to face to save the Test after India led on the first innings by 151 runs.
It was one helluva ask to survive, but Australia did it superbly against the equal top-ranked Test bowlers in the world – spin twins Ravi Ashwin, and Ravi Jadeja on a wicket tailor-made for them.
This was a scoreboard to read without runs, but rather balls faced to soak up time.
And it makes for riveting reading.
Peter Handscomb – 200 deliveries.
Shaun Marsh – 197.
Matt Renshaw – 84.
Steve Smith – 68.
David Warner – 16.
Matt Wade – 16.
Glenn Maxwell – 15.
And nightwtchman Nathan Lyon – 7.
That adds up to 603 deliveries faced for the 100 overs of the innings, plus the three no-balls.
Renshaw and Smith set the pace with 152 deliveries between them, before Renshaw was trapped in front, and for some unfathomable reason the skipper shouldered arms, and lost his castle.
That left the Handscomb and Marsh stand as the most likely to save the Test, even though there was a long way to go.
Both have had a very ordinary series – yet their 62-over stand was pure class.
It’s been 32 innings since an Australian pair has posted a Test century partnership for the fifth wicket, but at Ranchi they did it twice.
The Smith-Maxwell partnership of 191 off 354 deliveries dominated the baggy green’s first innings total of 451.
Yesterday Marsh and Handscomb put on 124 off 373 on the most difficult of pitches against the two best spinners in the world.
Marsh and Handscomb will never play better digs for Australia, with Marsh saving his career.
And they proved the perfect foil of left-hander Marsh, and right-handed Handscomb, as the two Ravis tried in vain to separate them.
Their dot balls tell the story of the Australian’s patience.
Jadeja bowled 230 dot balls in his 44 overs, Ashwin 148 in his 30 – totalling 378 – from their 74 of the 100 overs.
That alone defied the cynics, many of whom wrote off the Australians by predicting they would be all out by lunch.
I’m waiting for the knockers to step forward to say the were very wrong, and salute the draw.
But I won’t be holding my breath, just as I won’t be expecting the army of Glenn Maxwell supporters to explain why he only faced 15 deliveries for his couple of runs with 29 minutes left on the clock.
There was still a danger of defeat, but Handscomb and Wade safely saw Australia home.
So the fourth and final Test at Dharamsala will be the series decider with Australia on a massive high saving the Test, while India will still be smarting at not putting Australia away when they had all the elements in their favour.
That puts the baggy greens in the box seat to turn the screws for Steve Smith to hold aloft the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
And no doubt throw the odd smiling glance towards Virat Kohli.
Swanny
Guest
Son or Lordy It must have hurt u that Shaun marsh batted well .
yuri
Roar Rookie
I thought it was an tremendous, riveting match. I was glued to the TV for 5 days and barely missed a ball. When the Aussies had to face those 8 overs at the end of day 4 I was so nervous I was trembling. I was very proud of the Aussies when they held on for a draw. In my eyes it was a win. Can't wait for the 4th test. Shame that free to air TV is not covering these matches. What do people think of Warner's performance? I know he was under tremendous pressure but he seemed to bat like an amateur in the second innings. What about Steve Smith's captaincy? Alan Border and Brad Haddin were pretty critical of his failure to vary the bowlers and his use of DRS.
Craig
Guest
"Yesterday Marsh and Handscomb put on 124 off 373 on the most difficult of pitches against the two best spinners in the world." Specifically your words "on the most difficult of pitches". It wasn't the most difficult pitch, in fact it was the easiest of the series by a mile.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
True, but it's still apparently the first time any team has done it since something like 2011 in India. That's quite a while. England's last two tests they crumbled out in similar circumstances despite them being pitches that allowed India to even higher totals than they managed here on this pitch.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'd finally found where I could get the ABC coverage online and was listening on the bus on the way home, and sat there in shock after hearing Smith's dismissal. Like most I was really hoping the rest of the guys could do it, but wasn't necesarily that hopeful they would be able to.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
And considering England's last two tests were on probably even better batting surfaces, where India managed 631 and 7/759 dec in their lone innings and then bowled out England in 55 overs and 88 overs respectively, and the fact that, despite plenty of these sorts of pitches, this is the first team any team has managed to hold bat through the fifth day for a draw in these sorts of circumstances in India since 2011 or something, suggests that it was still a pretty special achievement even if it wasn't a minefield of a pitch to bat on. If anything, Shaun Marsh's job was the more impressive of the two because he spent the whole time with Jadeja being able to bowl into those footmarks outside his off stump all day.
Arky
Guest
As least as.
Arky
Guest
Without Maxwell's hundred in the first innings (an innings in which Marsh and Handscomb failed), Marsh and Hanscomb would have never had the opportunity to have their blockathon in the first place. Maxwell came in in the second innings withh the draw all but secured, got a good ball before he was set, it happens.
Arky
Guest
"Marsh and Handscomb will never play better digs for Australia, with Marsh saving his career." They were good efforts but one would certainly hope Hanscomb in particular has even better digs ahead, and arguably already has. Let's not get carried away. The pitch was not that bad, surviving 2 and a bit sessions even on day 5 is not an epic untoppable achievement, it's just very good.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Agreed, we all thought we were gone when Smith got out, but the next two did the job. Great stuff.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Maxwell's ton in the first innings was as important as Handscomb's knock in the 2nd.
David Lord
Expert
Craig, don't put your words in my column. Quote - "It was one helluva ask to survive, but Australia did it superbly against the equal top- ranked Test bowlers in the world - Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja on a wicket made for them," Where are the words impossible pitch to bat on?
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Great effort by the boys. Good to see that even with Smith failing the others were able to step up and it wasn't just a case of Smith batting all day being the only way it could be done. It was certainly not a minefield pitch, but plenty in India aren't, and yet the spinners still regularly get the job done on day 5. There was a comment on the cricinfo site that it was the first time since 2010-11 that a visiting team had batted out for a draw after trailing on the first innings in India, or something like that. Not sure of all the stats behind that, but it points to it not just being a big thing for this Australian team that's regularly struggled in fifth day situations where they've just had to hang on for a draw, but a big thing for any team visiting India. There have been plenty of other roads in that time that were probably better for day 5 batting than this one that teams still failed to make it. Probably including the final test for England where India managed 750 in their only innings then rolled England on the final day.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It did seem one of those ones where once you'd been in for a while, if you were happy to bat very conservatively and keep concentration it could be very hard to get you out, but starting out was definitely a tricky thing, and it's never easy coming in after a long partnership. Anyone can get out cheaply in that situation. Can't look at one failure here to basically rule the hundred in the first innings a flash in the pan. It may be, but also this failure might be the odd one. The hundred he scored has earned him a few more tests to prove himself. If he gets more innings closer to the first innings here than the second then he'll get a few more, if not, then he won't. But it was great from Handscomb and Marsh.
AdrianK
Guest
I thought Maxwell was just unlucky. At least he batted more responsibly than Warner.
Thunder Nation
Guest
Great knockshop to Marsh and Handscomb The payoff for the children of the future has begun The children of the future are here today Here they sing ad here thye play Turn around and say to May The winds a blowin in the hay We can fight the fight that ends this thyme Or roll up the stumps and play with twine The children of the crickets future Begin with father, son, kinder and me.
David Lord
Expert
Peebo, I long for the day when praising Glenn Maxwell is the norm, and the Australian team in all three formats will be the beneficiary. That's where talent is supposed to surface.
punter
Guest
Great innings from both Marsh & Handscomb, if Marsh does nothing else, he can hang his hat on this. Hopefully this is a start of 100 test matches for Handscomb, so much composure for one so inexperience.
punter
Guest
Exactly Peebo, wrong time to have a go at Maxwell. There are people with far greater natural ability that never ever got to play for Australia let alone score a hundred in every form of cricket for his country. This is life.
Lancey5times
Roar Rookie
That cricket ball was pretty new and hard when Maxwell came in to bat. Far newer than when Handscomb or Marsh started. And as was mentioned many times during the commentary, this was not an easy wicket to begin on. 'Least tension filled moments' is a strange statement given the pressure the whole day brought. To use your own words David 'how any Roarers can belittle what the Aussies achieved yesterday defies description'. This applies to you as well. Maxi had a very good test.